Thursday, August 11, 2016

How I Style My Hair and Picking The Right Hair Style For You

Ever since I cut my hair several months ago I've received so many compliments and questions on what products do I use, what color do I dye my hair, and how do I style it. I've been planning on doing a post answering all these questions for awhile now, but I really needed my daughter's help to take pictures. My husband is my normal photographer, but I didn't want to bother him with this...this was a 'girl' thing and I needed my daughter. So when Ashley was in town last week we played make-up and hair and took lots of pictures along the way! Having a daughter can be so much fun!

Well, now before we get to "How I Style My Hair", let's first discuss "Picking The Right Hair Style For You", because if you don't have the right hair style for both your hair type and your lifestyle, styling it will always be a challenge.

Here are My Tips for "Picking The Right Hair Style for You"

1) Pick a hair style that you like and is on-trend. We all know that woman whose worn her hair the same way since high school. Just like fashion trends change, so do hair styles. Don't get stuck wearing the same hairstyle for years.

2) Pick a hair style that works for both your hair type and your facial shape. If you pick a hair style that is not right for your hair, you will be constantly fighting it. And if your hair style doesn't compliment your beautiful face, what's the point?

3) Pick a hair style that fits your lifestyle. This is super important. If your a busy person that only has 10 minutes to get ready in the morning, a complicated hairdo is not for you.

I took all these points into deep consideration when picking out my current hair style.

I chose a bob because even though it is a classic, well-known cut, it is also popular and on-trend right now.

I also picked a bob because of my hair and facial structure. My hair is thin, but I have a lot of it. It has a partial wave, meaning, parts of my hair have a bit of a wave and other parts are stick straight. I have a cowlick both in my bangs and the back of my head. My face shape is round and chubby, so I am limited to what styles work with my face.

And finally, I picked a bob because I thought I could easily style my hair with the least amount of work. I will be the first to admit that I am not a hair person. I hate, hate, hate styling my hair. I want to just wash, blow dry, and go...anything else is too much work. I will use a curling iron or flat iron only for special occasions and that's it. And to tell you the truth, if it's that special of an occasion, I will make an appointment with my hair dresser and have her do it. That is how much I hate styling my hair.

A bob is basically a hair cut where the hair is shorter in back and cut on an angle so that it is longer in front. I thought this cut would work very well with my partial wave, my face shape, and my lifestyle because I could curl it without an iron, the chin length hair complimented my face shape, and very little work was needed to style it.

I first washed and conditioned my hair with a shampoo and conditioner meant for color treated hair. A lot of women ask me what brand I use. To tell you the truth, I'm not loyal to any brand, I just buy whatever name brand happens to be on sale at my salon at the moment. Right now I'm using Matrix Biolage, but I've also used Scruples, and Big Sexy Hair among others, and I loved them all.

After showering, I leave the towel on my head for quite awhile, usually 20 minutes, while I put my make up on. My hair is pretty dry already before I even begin styling. This is me with fresh, towel dried hair after being washed, with no products in my hair yet.

Next, I add a small amount of mousse or curl enhancer to my hair. Right now I'm using this product because my hair dresser recommended it to me. I like everything about it except the dispenser. It's very difficult to get it out of the bottle. I use a wide tooth plastic comb so that I don't damage my hair when combing it while it is wet.

This is the amount I put in my hair. I will repeat this once about half-way through styling using the same amount.

I first finger comb the curl enhancer throughout my hair.

Then I comb it through, making sure every strand is equally covered with the curl enhancer. I then part my hair, and comb my bangs down over my forehead.

Now it's time to scrunch. This is my trick to avoid using a curling iron. Because my hair is cut in layers and I have a partial wave, if I just scrunch my hair, I don't need to curl it with an iron.

After I sufficiently hand-scrunched all my hair I set my blow dryer to both the lowest heat and air flow setting. The first thing I do is dry my bangs so they lay down nice on my forehead.

Now I bend my head over and blow dry from underneath. This gives my thin hair body and fullness. And notice my hand squeezing my hair? I keep scrunching my hair as I'm drying it. I never stop scrunching through this whole process, if I do, my hair would end up frizzy and not curly.

Once I feel the underneath portion of my hair is almost dry, I sit back up and dry the rest of my hair using the same process. I grab a handful of hair, scrunch, let go, grab another handful of hair, scrunch, let go....and so on, and so on. I also lift up my hair and aim the blow dryer to the roots as shown in the picture below, to increase fullness and volume.

Now my hair is more than halfway dry and still slightly damp, so I add one more palm full of curl enhancer.

Repeating the same process as when I began, I simply get the cream on both hands and lightly pat my damp hairdo and scrunch it in, but this time I do not comb it through.

I grab the blow dryer again, and continue blow drying exactly as I was before.

You can see now how the curls are beginning to form and shape nicely without the frizz.

And here is the completed hairdo. Nice, soft curls in the back, with no frizz!

Now sometimes, I do have to take a curling iron and do touch ups where pieces didn't curl, but that is rare. Also, because the front is longer than the back, the side pieces sometimes end up a little straighter than I like. When that happens, I simply curl them back, away from my face.

Now, I'm sure a real hairdresser will read this post and be mortified and think "That's not the proper way to style your hair at all!" They are probably right. But as I shared earlier, I hate styling my hair, and I had to find a way that works for me and lifestyle, and this way does! And with the amount of compliments I've been getting on my hair lately, it's obviously been working...right or wrong way to style!

And if curly hair isn't your thing, a bob can also work with stick straight here. Here are some pictures of me when I got home from the salon. My hairstylist blew my hair straight and used a flat iron on it. My husband doesn't like my hair styled it this way, so I never do it. I like it, but again, it's too much work!

I also want to emphasize the importance of getting regular trims, root touch ups, and highlights for your hair. It is very hard to make hair look good if it needs a trim or a color. I get my hair cut and professionally colored every six weeks and highlights or whole-head coloring whenever needed. I'm very lucky because I don't have to pay outrageous salon costs to have these services. I was just watching an Instagram story where a style blogger said she paid $199 for a "wash, cut, and blow out", and she thought that was a deal. I don't know where she lives, but I thought that was insane to pay that amount. My last visit to my hair salon cost only $53.00 plus a 15% tip for a wash, cut, full head color, highlights, and style. I know I'm getting a great deal, because my friends who go to the nearest large city for these services say that they pay a lot more. I live in a small town, with people who don't spend a lot of money on their hair, so I am thinking that is why my cost is so low.

Oh, and for those of you who want to know what color my hair is dyed...I have no idea. I trust my hair dresser implicitly, I have been going to her since 1998 and I just let her decide what color to dye my hair. We also decide together when to darken my hair or lighten it. I don't stick with the same color all the time. In the spring, I like to lighten my hair, but in the fall, I go darker. For this last visit, we decided to darken my hair again because the summer sun really faded my color and highlights.

10 comments:

I always love getting a peek into how other women do their hair and make up so this was a lot of fun for me! I really don't think there is a right or wrong way to style your hair. If it works for you, then it is the right way. And yes, you are getting a GREAT deal at your salon. I pay $90 + tip for color, cut and style. I think $40 more when I get highlights. So, lucky you! Also, I haven't scrunched my hair for awhile, but you inspired me today. Scrunched hair works really well for this awful humidity!

So happy you did this post! My hair is very similar to yours, with a partial wave too and cowlick. But I have pretty thick hair, maybe that's why I am having trouble with waves but I also usually use hotter settings when blow drying, because I am always in a hurry. Going to try this look again following your great tips. Already have a curl enhancer from the salon, so maybe I just need some practice doing it the right way. Wish that kind of hair appointment was so cheap here, I don't live in a big city, but haircut and style only cost me around 45 dollars :-( Thank you for doing this post!!

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